Customer Reviews

Samsung NV10 10.1MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom with Advance Shake Reduction

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(20)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I am frankly a little puzzed by others' comments about the image quality of this camera. I have shot digital exclusively since 1999 and this is by far the best point-and-shoot I have owned. I usually shoot with a Canon 5D or 1DS Mark II and this little NV10 holds up really well against these and certainly beats all the compact cameras I have owned (Canon, Casio, Sony, Contax). I have printed 16"x20" prints from the NV10 after almost no editing in Photoshop CS2. There is a little noise (I shoot the NV10 at ISO 100) and a minor application of Noise Ninja's filter removes any noticeable noise. It is possible that there are manufacturing irregularities that cause one camera to be different from another. If this is the case and yours seems very noisy, send it back and exchange it for another. I took this camera to India for a week and I couldn't pry it out of my wife's hands - she loved the size, responsiveness, image quality, exposure and ease of use.

I shoot with a Canon 1D Mark II and an assortment of lenses. Many times my gear sits at home because face it, who wants to carry camera gear that weighs more than a small country? Many times I wish I had a camera in my pocket. I played around with plenty and narrowed it down to this camera and the Canon S3 IS. The S3 was the winner in many areas except one - size. I wanted a camera that, when in its case, is still very portable. I want to toss it in my pocket with my keys and my comb and not have it look like I have a tumor.

Yes the Nikon E200 is better. The lens is what does all the work. The D200 cannot be taken everywhere, this camera can!

I leave it on AUTO and anytime I use the flash I underexpose by 0.7 and my world is fine. The flash is good for close distances, the battery lasts long enough for a day out, and the megapixel rating is simply wonderful.

Good points:
Metal body!
Buttons on the back make selecting menus so very easy!
Size, or lack thereof!
Lens is covered when camera is off!
Screen is pretty much scratch proof!

Neutral points:
Only a 3x zoom, but any bigger and it would not fit in my pocket.
Battery lasts for about 200 shots, so take the charger with you.
Extra power battery supposedly available, have not seen it.
POWER button is lit and shutter button is not. Folks turn it off when shooting because they press the wrong button.
Sounds are all corny.

Bad points:
When you record movies, the sound is missing for about 2 seconds on each end, so shoot extra and edit later.
No power-on lock, you can accidentally power it up in your pocket.
AF not so hot in the dark.

Overall, if you want a camera small enough to ALWAYS have with you, this is it. If you can afford to have some bulk there are many other cameras to chose from.

I recently purchased this camera and have found it to perform very well. I have digital versions of my brothers wedding photographs that were taken on a digital SLR and the images that I've taken, in similar light conditions, with the NV10 are actually superior in quality. It is true that in low light conditions when you do not use a flash and shoot at high ISO speeds there is increased grain / noise in the image but that is true for most compact digital cameras. I'm of the opinion that if you shoot a lot of low light photographs you should use a tripod and shoot at low ISO's with this camera for excellent results. There are plenty of more technical reviews of this cameras performance on the web and I encourage you to seek them out. For a very compact camera, this one really has a lot of flexibility and the user interface is intuitive and a pleasure to use.

To compare this camera to a Nikon D200-or any DSLR-is ridiculous: IT IS A POINT-AND-SHOOT! Can you take excellent photographs with an NV10 (good enough for someone else to want to buy)? Yes. Can you do that with any camera? Yes. Photography, from the equipment to the final, printed product, is an entirely subjective endeavor.

Build:
There is no point-and-shoot on the market in this class equal to the NV10's build quality. (5 stars)

Interface:
The Smart-Button interface will be used, eventually, by nearly every other camera maker. (5 stars)

Design:
In camera battery charging was a poor option for obvious reasons. (2 stars)
However, considering the overall camera...What former Leica designer moved to Korea? (5 stars)

Image:
Some reviewers have said that the camera's images have too much contrast and color saturation and complain that there is no way to rectify this in-camera; I somewhat agree. For my tastes, contrast is fine, but only pure reds oversaturate. It would be nice to correct this while shooting, rather than wait to Photoshop it later. However, the shots I have made thusfar have been excellent. As for the noise issue: If it bothers you that much, buy a different camera. Samsung does not claim to be all things to all photographers. If you bought an NV10 and found yourself dissatisfied with the in-camera NR or amount of noise present...tough. Do more research before putting down your money next time. There's always e-bay if you don't want to keep it.

Before complaining about noise, use some common sense. A 1 1/8" CCD with 10.3 million pixels will make noise above 200 ISO. In normal light, 100-200 ISO images are noise-free or at least make noise that looks more like film grain. If you want to shoot in low light, don't free-hand it: Use a flat surface or tri-pod.

Consider your planned subject matter and the environment in which you plan to shoot, then select the appropriate equipment. (4 stars)

Software and Stuff:
The included software ignores Mac users. IPhoto downloads NV10 images, and Photoshop does its thing, but it would be nice to have access to Samsung's proprietary software. I fear problems when company updates come down the pipe. Also, factory accessories are difficult, if not impossible, to come by. (2 stars)

Objective Conclusion of an Entirely Subjective Subject:
The NV10 is a great camera for what it is and maybe even the best available at its price.

Let me start by saying that this camera is by far the best looking and the best built point-and-shoot camera I have ever held in my hands. It is, for the lack of a better word, perfect.

If only the same could be said about image quality -- this is where the camera is a severe let-down. There is noise; noise everywhere, and even at the lowest ISO setting. There is also a focus issue, with an unacceptable percentage of images being out of focus. My particular copy was backfocusing more than can be attributed to user error. Forget about reliable low-light focusing too; it's mostly a hit-and-miss situation.

If I were to sum this camera up in a few words, I'd say design and marketing gone wild. There is no place for 10 MP in this class of cameras, not until they get the image quality right. Look, if all you're doing is look at pictures on your monitor, email them and publish them online, then 3 MP is plenty enough. If you print 4x6, then 5 MP is starting to become overkill. But 10 MP? Give me a break.

I am a long-time DSLR user, having used Canon cameras with L lenses. I mention this since I want to be clear that I am not expecting similar output from the NV10. In the end, I could not with a sane mind justify keeping the Samsung, despite its drop-dead gorgeous looks.

If you want the best currently available image quality in a point-and-shoot camera, run, don't walk, and buy the Fuji Finepix F30. If however style matters more, then there is nothing out there like the NV10.

I so wanted this camera to work out for me. In the end, alas, it did not.

I have a Nikon D80 Digital SLR and an older Sony DSC-V1 digital camera. But I wanted a smaller camera that I could easily carry around everywhere and use at any time.

I tried the Canon Elph, the Nikon Coolpix, and others in a local camera store. But they were either too slippery to hold, or too big/heavy, or lacked a decent wide angle, or didn't support decent manual modes. Then I tried the NV10. WOW!

SMART TOUCH
The camera manual is a little vague about this. Swipe-and-pause (not press) from one button to its neighbor scrolls pictures one-by-one. Swipe-and-pause across more buttons scrolls faster through multiple pictures. To keep scrolling without swiping over and over, swipe-and-pause but end on the very last button on the left, or on the second-to-last button on the right.

The Zoom button lets you zoom out to view multiple thumbnails in a photo album view (swipe-and-pause to scroll left/right/up/down) and then zoom in for the full view of a selected picture.

SIZE/GRIP
This camera is skinny! I have (previously) uploaded a picture to Amazon showing the camera with a dime for comparison.

It has a decent grip, and it's slightly longer than most of the other comparable cameras I tried. But you could try it in a store to decide for yourself.

PICTURE QUALITY
It only supports JPG (no TIFF or RAW formats). By default, it's set on JPG Medium, but you can set it to JPG Fine.

To give you a sense of the colors, the grain, issues with the image at the corners, low-light handling, and shake reduction (or not), I have previously uploaded an uncropped picture of some jelly fish (at an aquarium), taken handheld with no flash in Automatic mode. The only light was from the soft/dim light inside the tanks. The room was dark because these jellies don't tolerate light well.

MANUAL SETTINGS
You usually only get two F stop choices available at any time. (F2.8 and F7.1 commonly appear, but the these choices change when you zoom.)

SHAKE REDUCTION
The ASR is digital, not optical. So, it's not the same as having a vibration reduction lens. (Also, the manual indicates that you need to enter a special shooting mode to get the ASR. So, apparently you don't get ASR most of the time.)

SD CARD
The manual guarantees compatibility with 1GB max. I haven't tried a 2GB card yet.

The camera also has 20MB of internal memory built in, so you can actually take a couple of pictures even *before* you buy a card (or after you fill up a card).

REMOTE
There's a remote available in certain countries, but I have yet to see it available (by itself, at least) in the US.

BATTERY LIFE
Once you get past the newbie need to use up battery life while fiddling with learning to use the camera, it doesn't seem too bad. The batteries are very small (as shown in my uploaded picture), so it's easy to carry a couple of extras.

ZOOM
The 3X optical zoom is OK. The newer Samsung NV11 has a 5x optical zoom (but maybe Samsung traded that for something that I would miss). The NV7 has a 7X optical zoom (but it's a bigger camera).

I've had the NV10 for nearly a year now, and I'm pleased with it.

This is exactly what I was looking for! This camera rocks! It's the thickness of a dime, and it is bullet proof. I went on a bike ride in chicago in the rain, and it got wet, and still took great pictures. I've also dropped it, and stepped on it, and none of these things has effected the performence. The only reservation I have about this product is it's night mode. When you shoot in a low light situation without a flash the pictures are very fuzzy. I've found that I can use a higher ISO or change the exposure speeds to get a good picture, or you just turn on the flash. If it weren't for that little hick-up I would give it a 5 star rating.

On the USB charging and data transfer cable. I've found it to be 100%. If you have a problem with it, send it back to samsung. The only thing that I've found is you have to turn the camera on for it to sync to your computer. If the camera is off it just charges.

When i first got the camera I did think there was an awful lot of noise in the pictures. Then I looked into the different setting and saw that you could set it to ISO100, you can also set it up for Soft Normal or Vivid colors, and you can set up the pixels for fine or very fine. There are also a some fun filters and various focusing options. It's a very tight little bundle.

I've had the NV10 for a few days now. The new touch sensitive interface is a great new way to navigate! At first it was weird but after getting used to it, its great. Its quick to adjust a setting to make sure your getting a good shot. Changes are real time so you can see your changes on the screen. You slide your finger on the touch sensitive buttons. ISO settings from 100 to 1000. Although you start getting bad noise above 500. You can get nice 10mp pic at ISO 200. Different scene modes are easy to choose. The flash is strong and spreads well. Fast startup and shoot times. Ergonomics are very good. You can charge the camera with your USB. Big difference with this camera compared to others is the nice 3-5X zoom. I don't like the browsing through the taken pictures by sliding on the touch screen buttons, if your not careful it will browse through them way too fast. You can select and delete multiple pictures in the thumbnail mode which is nice. Video capture is strong and lets you also zoom while filming. Audio capture was weak. Maybe I can adjust this? The ASR function doesn't really work, must be a marketing thing since most people want this. Overall its a nice camera to get if you want something a little different than all the other cameras out there.

Update: Daytime shots are very nice. Night shots are terrible.

This camera is gonna get picked on for having it's flaws etc. But in the end it's a nice little camera that takes really good pictures, great video, and has a pretty simple interface (thought it requires getting used to).

dpreview recommends this camera. I agree that when you weigh performance issues against high styling and the low price of this camera - it comes out a winner.

My wife and I bought this camera as an upgrade from the Canon S50 we've had for several years.

The camera is very easy to use. Kudos to Samsung and their user interface. Much easier for new camera users to access the many options this camera has.

Battery life is surprisingly good for such a small battery and the USB charging option is very nice.

Cons: the flash is very strong, which is great in a dark room but has a tendency to overexpose shots taken up close (inside 5 feet). There is no EV compensation for the flash, just for overall exposure.

Videos taken with the camera are of good quality with poor audio (what can you expect?) and require conversion if you are going to edit them (most people don't). Caveat: when taking videos while skiing this winter, there was purple streaking in many sun shots. Not sure if its a lens or sensor problem.


For the price and the convenience I can easily recommend this camera.